The common technique employed for transporting large objects, such as machines, vehicles etc., in some form of packing over long or short distances, is to use a wooden or plywood shipping case when conditions do not permit the use of metal containers conforming to ISO (International Standard Organization) standards. Such wooden or plywood shipping cases are used especially in the following instances: despatch to distant destinations and when it is not certain that the containers will be returned to the shipper, and the need for the goods to be stored for a relatively long period on arrival before they are unloaded (the daily charge for immobilizing the container is high), the fact being that, in these instances, the containers would be immobilized too long or it may even be impossible to recover them (containers are expensive).
Nowadays, to avoid paying the high costs of long-term immobilization of standard metal containers and even losing money if they are not returned, shippers are therefore forced to use shipping cases which are most frequently constructed at the loading sites in the factory and which have a high cost price per cubic meter of volume. Moreover, for large business concerns, this necessitates an additional workshop and additional labor specially for manufacturing these shipping cases, which represents a substantial and permanent increase in the general costs.